The story so far....

Back in February 1988 when Stig Rossen jumped into the conscience of the Danish audience with his entry to the Danish Eurovision Song Contest there probably weren't that many who predicted a promising career in showbiz for him!

Inevitably, a record was made that same year ("Kærlighed - og alt det der") where his Danish Eurovision Song Contest entry "Vi danser rock og rul" was introduced and this record indicated that there was much more to this young man from Kolding than just soft pop music; the expression "heavy-pop" was used frequently in the studio during recording. That same album was followed by a concert tour around Denmark with the band Fenders and then there was silence! Stig Rossen had abandoned the Danish music scene and had dedicated himself to an acting course in London at the prestigious Guildhall School of Music and Drama (1987 - 1990).

It was not necessary to wait more than a few short months into the nineties before Stig made his professional debut in England.

He was offered to join the ensemble of Les Miserables and after only three months he was asked to take over the leading role of Jean Valjean. This dream role would later take him around the world. Today, he has played the part of Jean Valjean almost 1500 times in 10 different countries.

The album "Starry Starry Nights" was released in 1991 and it was the first collaboration with the symphony orchestra "Sønderjyllands Symfoniorkester" and the English conductor David Firman.

The album sold beyond anybody's wildest expectations. It was the fastest selling musical album ever released in Denmark. Platinum in just four months - and this success was followed up with a completely sold-out concert tour.

The collaboration with "Sønderjyllands Symfoniorkester" and David Firman continued on the next two albums, "The Impossible Dream" (1993) and "Live in Concert" (1994), which sold to Gold and Platinum respectively.

At this point Stig Rossen felt that he needed a new artistic challenge and in 1994-1995 he threw himself into the gospel genre in a beautiful partnership with the American gospel star Lillian Boutté.

This project involved a televised concert with a choir of thousands!

During this period Stig also began doing concerts with Svenn Skipper's 5-piece orchestra and explored a more intimate and "naked" concert style over the next 2-3 years.

1995 found Stig in negotiations with the recording company Polygram and after a ten month tour with Les Miserables in Asia and South Africa during 1996 a cooperation was initiated resulting in the album "Letters of Love" in April 1997.

This exciting project which introduced a new and more up-to-date sound pointed in the direction of a potential international recording career for Stig as one of the songs, "Miracle", topped the charts in Thailand and remained there for 12 weeks, 3 of them in the top spot.

In the fall of 1997 Stig assembled his current 11-piece band in preparation for a string of concerts in Denmark, where the repertoire would consist of a handful of "old" hits , some of the new songs as well as brand new material.

At this point Stig felt he had found a musical constellation which gave him the freedom and flexibility he had sought and after a sold-out concert tour in the fall of 1998 as well as a huge success with the cd "Julelys" ("Christmas Candles") which sold 67.000 copies he spent the spring of 1999 in his demo studio at home in London, writing new songs.

Stig first appearance on the festival scene performing as a principal star came by the end of July that year when Stig performed with his band on the main stage at the Langeland Festival.

Stig Rossen sang the Danish version of Phil Collins' beautiful songs made for Disney's animated feature "Tarzan", and he had the great honour of singing for Mr. Collins himself at the gala premier of the film in the Palladium Cinema in November.

The CD "Julelys", now with the bonus track "I den kolde vinter" ("In The Bleak Midwinter") - a duet with Norwegian soprano Christina Undhjem, became yet another sales success in 1999 with a further 28.000 sold copies bringing the total sales up to 95.000 - just 5.000 short of double platinum.

The Christmas concert tour in 1999 was another huge success with 30 completely sold-out concerts over a period of 22 days.

January and February 2000 kept Stig busy at the Fredericia Theatre where he played the part of Anatoly in the musical "Chess". After 18 sold-out shows in Fredericia the ensemble took off on a short tour with three performances in Esbjerg and two in Herning.

In the middle of April Stig moved back to Denmark after living in England for thirteen years. Again this year he could be found on the centre stage at the Langeland Festival, where he delivered a tremendous show together with his 11-piece band.

Stig toured the country with outdoor concerts all through the summer while at the same time putting the final touches on his album "Stories" which was released 30th October.

On the 3rd of November the new Danish musical "Egtved Pigen" ("The Egtved Girl") premièred at the Music Theatre in Vejle. In addition to Vejle this musical also played in Aarhus and Aalborg through November.

Stig was completely overwhelmed when legendary Nana Mouskori asked him to sing a duet with her on her latest album. This venture was turned into a guest appearance by Nana Mouskori on Stig's cd "Stories" with Nana's world hit "Only Love". "Stories" was released in November and had sold almost 50.000 copies by Christmas.

The year 2000 was sung out with 2 huge Christmas concerts in Forum, Copenhagen and Messecenter Herning, where Stig Rossen welcomed Christmas together with Oslo Gospel Choir and Swedish Tommy Körberg.

As early as January in the new Millennium Stig challenged himself with a part in the play "Ballads Of Art And Love" (Ballader om kunst og kærlighed") produced by The Danish Theatre and he toured with the play for three months.

Then followed another acting challenge in the form of a part in DR's successful television series "The Flying Squad" ("Rejseholdet"). Episode 20 was taped during March 2001 and it was aired on the 20th January 2002. Incidentally, this episode had the highest viewing figures ever for the serial, and the episode was the first Danish serial to be awarded an Emmy.

Finally, there was time to spare for promoting the new CD "Stories", and a national tour was carried out in March 2001.

May was also the month when Stig gave a powerful performance as Judas in the musical "Jesus Christ Superstar" at Fredericia Theatre.

After a successful co-operation during the two musicals "The Egtved Girl" ("Egtved Pigen") and "Chess", Musical Director Mikkel Roennow and Stig Rossen established a company called "Rossen & Roennow" on the 30th March, with the goal to provide high quality musicals to the Danish audience. The first musical from the company was to be the Benny Andersson/Bjørn Ulvaeus/Tim Rice musical "Chess". Stig played the lead as Anatoly Sergievsky and the musical premiered in Aarhus on the 21st December 2001. The musical played to sold-out audiences in Aarhus, Copenhagen, and Vejle until May 2002.

In between all the musical activities, Stig found time to do the traditional Christmas Concerts at the family church in Kolding as well as two Christmas concerts with guest stars in Copenhagen and Herning.

During May 2002 Stig introduced a new theme to his audience with his national "Voices" tour where he paid tribute to three late legends Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley as well as three very living legends Eric Clapton, Stevie Wonder and Tom Jones.

In June Stig took great pleasure in participating in a charity concert for the Children from Chernobyl as well as a performing at a Midsummer concert in Nibe.

The previous co-operation with Disney was followed with the new animated film "Lilo & Stitch" where Stig provided the voice of Captain Gantu. The film premiered in Denmark on the 6th September 2002.

The next challenge facing Stig was to play Jean Valjean in the international concert version of "Les Miserables" which toured in four Nordic countries in October and November. The international production of "Les Miserables in Concert" took off as scheduled in "Parken" Copenhagen in October 2002. Stig repeated his by now well-known role as Jean Valjean. This alternative version of "Les Miserables", where all the performers are gathered on the stage the entire time was a huge success and performances were added to the schedule in Norway, Sweden and Finland.

2002 was a genuine musical year for Stig and this becomes very apparent with his new cd "Love Changes Everything", which could be purchased from October 2002. Here Stig focused on musical numbers that he doesn't normally sing, and the cd comprises well-known and beautiful numbers from among others "Miss Saigon", "Chess", "Phantom of the Opera", "Jesus Christ Superstar", and of course "Les Miserables". The cd also has two duets with Joanna Ampil and Danish Susanne Elmark. The musical backing was by The Danish Radio Concert Orchestra (RadioUnderholdningsOrkestret) conducted by David Firman.

After their huge success with the musical "Chess", the production company Rossen & Roennow were now set to try their skills on a musical of lesser fame. The choice fell on Barry Manilow's "Copacabana" where Stig played the part of young Tony Forte. Casting took place during the fall of 2002 and rehearsals were scheduled all through November and December. Rossen & Roennow had again set their standards high and had picked the cream of the crop from musical scenes all over Europe. The musical opened in Copenhagen 10th January 2003 and it toured in Aarhus, Aalborg and Vejle.

In connection with their production of "Copacabana", Rossen & Roennow distributed a cd with the music from their own version of the musical.

Stig was guest performer on a cd with the late Grethe Ingmann entitled "Dansevise". The cd was made on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Eurovision Song Contest, when Denmark won for the first time with this song, performed by Grethe and Joergen Ingmann. The cd contains a remake of the song "Love" ("Kærlighed"), now as a duet with Stig Rossen and Grethe Ingmann.

True to form Stig never had time to promote his latest cd "Love Changes Everything". He recovered the lost ground during the summer of 2003 with a series of outdoor concerts, as well as participating in this year's Castle Concerts, adding to the celebration of their 10th anniversary.

Complying with their objects clause, the next musical production under the Rossen & Roennow name had to be a well-known musical, and the choice now fell on "Les Miserables". As with the previous productions, this would also be made in the original language and have a choice of international performers in the cast. This time opening night took place in Aarhus, more precisely on 22nd December 2003, and the musical toured to Copenhagen, Aalborg, Vejle and Herning. Not surprisingly, Stig played Jean Valjean and he had looked forward to showing his Danish audience, what had made him famous on the British musical stage for so many years.

For a long time Stig's manager had tried to find a way of introducing Stig to the rest of the World, and USA was of course an obvious choice. Suddenly the opportunity arose in the form of a cancellation from Belgian Helmuth Lotti! Stig was invited to Detroit, USA by the TV-station "PBS - Detroit" to perform for approximately 4 million viewers, 2 million in USA and 2 million in Canada. Thursday 11th December at 9 p.m. Stig performed "live" in the programme "Stig Rossen in Concert".

Stig has also lent his voice to a continuation of the Disney animated feature "Lilo & Stitch. This new film is called "Stitch! Experiment 626" and sale began in November 2003. As for the first film, Stig lends his voice to the role of Captain Gantu.

Stig sang to the Danish version of the music from the Disney animated feature "Brother Bear", which opened in cinemas 6th February 2004. Stig repeated his cooperation with Phil Collins and he sings 3 of the new songs in the film.

Rossen & Roennow won the price "Dejle", which was established by Vejle Theatre. The choice fell on Rossen & Roennow due to their commitment and great achievement in making Vejle the centre of the musical genre. The price was presented to Rossen & Roennow on stage right after curtain call on the opening night of "Les Miserables" in Vejle. This is also where the final performances of “Les Miserables” took place. After no less than 16 extra performances the final curtain call was 30th March 2004.

Stig has had a busy summer, with a concert in Greenland, castle concert and charity concert in Denmark, promotion of the DVD release of the animated Disney feature “Brother Bear” as well as the promotion of his own cd “Love Changes Everything” in USA.

Another important task has been to finalize his own DVD and double cd which was released 20th September 2004. Both products are the result of the two international concerts taped at Tivoli’s Concert Hall in Copenhagen 2nd May. In addition to the release on cd and DVD the concerts will be broadcast nationally on PBS Television, USA and Canada in March 2005.

Another result from the interest awarded Stig in USA has been the avalanche of media attention, which has resulted in several television interviews and newspaper articles.